Good Article about Torvil and Dean Today

Dean discusses his relationship with both his ex-wives, and talks about his kids. Jane chimes in on their own relationship.

And perhaps the article explains why the Ice Dancing with the Stars program is wildly successful in GBR, and results in a very well attended tour each year, whereas the US form of the show is not doing as well. The show is based around T&D, and even in their 50's, they can still charm an audience.

Torvill & Dean were never romantically involved because they realized romance can play havoc with long term goals. That's probably the same way other successful partnerships view their relationships - they respect each other, support each other but leave any romance of it - similar to the case of V&M and D&W, especially since their partnerships began when they were just kids.

I spoke with Jill just after she filed for divorce from Dean. I don't think she was ever jealous of Jayne from a romantic standpoint, but probably felt deserted and a little resentful of his spending so much time away from her and the boys. Glad to hear that Dean appears to be a more thoughtful dad.

What a wonderful article! I'm sorry the couple split up, but it's clear that this guy is better at doing his work than anything else. Some people just are. Doris, as you say, the American skating show falls embarrassingly short compared to the English, Russian, and Canadian variations on the "skating with the stars" theme. and I can certainly see why after seeing the level of choreography and practice on the other shows. If some of the noisier "celebrities" on the American show acted up in Dean's presence, he'd make a one-bite meal out of them. I'll have to look up the British show on YouTube. I'm so jealous--there's a DVD of the tour, and drat, it's probably compatible with British machinery only.

Unfortunately, the manufacturers of the UK "Dancing on Ice" show DVD's(ITV Video) & the manufacturer of the "Dancing on Ice" tour DVD's(Universal) still resort to the childish tactic of region coding their DVD's, specifically, so that even if your DVD player can play a PAL format disc(and convert it to NTSC for display on North American T.V.'s), these "Dancing on Ice" DVD's are encoded to block playback(so your player will shut off and/or refuse to play the disc) if you are not in Western Europe or Southeast Asia(region 2), but this problem is not insurmountable. While the manufacturers of DVD & Bluray players are required(by the patent holders) to include the region code circuitry, after the machines leave the factory, there is nothing to stop equipment modification companies from defeating the region code circuitry, so the machine can play discs from anywhere in the world. These modified DVD & Bluray players are barely more expensive than the non-modified units, and typically, the machines that these companies are modifying are models which(even in their stock off the shelf form) had PAL to NTSC & NTSC to PAL conversion circuitry. Do a search on an internet search engine for "Code-Free" DVD players. I've got several code-free players, and I've got all of the UK "Dancing on Ice" DVD's, except the 2010 Tour disc.

ALL? You mean there are a bunch of them? Oh, rats, I'm missing everything.

One other thing that strikes me about the article is the poignant section in which Dean talks about his older son. It's heartwrenchingly honest and gentle. I know several people with children who have some mental challenge, and though all love their children very much, they grieve over the things that their children will never be able to share with them. I'm impressed that Dean seems to express a continuing daily commitment to his children, because it's hard enough for two parents to raise a child with those challenges, let alone a single parent. It makes me admire Dean all the more, despite whatever emotional messiness led to the breakup with Trenary.

Yes, there's a bunch of "Dancing on Ice" DVD's: "Dancing on Ice", "Dancing on Ice,Season 2", "Dancing on Ice,Season 3","Dancing on Ice,The Live Tour 2007", "Dancing on Ice,The Live Tour 2008", and now there's a 2010 Live Tour DVD. There was no Season 4 DVD, likely because of permission problems involving the music that the skaters performed to. Playback of any of these DVD's requires a Region Code Free modified DVD player,specifically a unit which in its' stock off the shelf forms contained PAL to NTSC conversion abilities(such as machines by Denon or Oppo, amongst others). It should be noted that part of the reason why the celebrity skaters on "Dancing on Ice" are much better than on the American "Skating With The Stars" is because, where the American show gives the celebrities 5 weeks of training, "Dancing on Ice" gives its' celebrities FOUR MONTHS of training, specifically with Jayne Torvill & Christopher Dean.

It was a very in depth article! Jayne said in the article "if you get involved with your skating partner and things don't work out, you don't have a skating partner" (paraphrased). What a tragedy it would have been had Jayne and Chris hooked up romantically in the younger years and didn't work out--imagine all the beautiful skating we would have missed out on!

Particularly in light of the fact that, as the British say, Jayne & Christopher don't "Get On"(I.E. get along) with each other. Yes, they act civil and polite during interviews, but on the rehearsal rink, Christopher Dean has(at times) been rather cruel to Jayne Torvill. A romantic relationship would have ended in heartbreak for Jayne Torvill and destroyed the skating partnership, and the duo would never gotten to an Olympics(and I would never have been able to see them skate in person, as I did when I visited London in 1992)